Recently, the Supreme Court said that all candidates with disabilities can take scribes to write their exams without meeting the benchmark disabilities criteria. Benchmark disability means a person with 40 percent of a specified disability as per the certificate issued by a government authority. Through a few previous judgments as well the court has upheld the need for scribes for students with disabilities. Yet, for many students with disabilities, the challenge in taking exams isn’t just mastering the syllabus, but going through the lengths and breadths to find a scribe. So the question remains – what good is a right, without access?
Section 17 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act of 2016 grants individuals with disabilities the right to avail the assistance of scribes during examinations and other written tasks. Scribes offer a crucial lifeline to students with disabilities. They are primarily volunteers who assist people with disabilities by writing or typing on their behalf.
In a significant Supreme Court ruling on February 3, 2023, a two-judge bench comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan emphasized that denying scribes or extra time to disabled candidates amounts to discrimination under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016. The judges also emphasized that exam authorities must ensure exam centres are accessible, provide the necessary support for disabled candidates, and strictly follow the RPwD Act, 2016 to ensure equal opportunities for everyone.
Students with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, limb differences, and locomotor disabilities usually find it difficult to find scribes to assist them in taking exams. This struggle isn’t limited to schools. It extends to competitive exams for higher education, college exams, job recruitment examinations, and more.Limited access, inconsistent regulations, and a lack of awareness among educational institutions and individuals continue to leave those who need them struggling.
In search of a scribe
When Anisha Mahanta was preparing for her Class 10 exams, she started experiencing severe headaches. To prevent the headaches from getting worse she visited a doctor and received medication. That’s when things took a turn for Ms. Mahanta and her vision was affected. Ms. Mahanta recollects that her vision was fine until the last paper of her board exams. But she couldn’t take the last paper due to loss of vision. “I lost an entire academic year. The gap year was when I first learned about scribes and how the process worked”, she told The Hindu.
Ms. Mahanta now works as a Communication Trainer at Enable India, a non-profit organization that empowers persons with disabilities. At that time, Ms. Mahanta was told that the scribe has to be at least two years younger than the candidate. As per that rule, her scribe had to be a Class 7 or Class 8 student.
She says even though the rule was in place, there was no system to provide a scribe. She had to figure it out on her own. She visited different schools, spoke to teachers, and asked if they had students willing to help. “The process was exhausting and stressful because there was no guarantee that my request would be accepted. I had to rely on the goodwill of students”, says Ms. Mahanta.
As a scribe volunteer, Poornima Naveen resonates with the anxiety of depending on someone else’s generosity. She says that many live with constant uncertainty, especially when scribes back out at the last moment. Some volunteers don’t give a proper confirmation and use dicey terms to communicate. “It leaves students anxious all night, unable to focus on their studies, worrying whether they’ll have a scribe or not”, she says.
Until Class 9, Narendra V.G., a senior specialist dedicated to creating job opportunities for individuals with vision impairment, managed to write his exams independently with low vision and a limb difference. Since the exams were conducted in the familiar and accommodating environment of his school. However, when he reached Class 10, he realised he would need writing assistance.
Unfortunately, neither Narendra nor his school had any awareness of how to access that facility. He felt fortunate that a local NGO visited his school and informed him that they assist persons with disabilities in getting scribes for exams. They handled the application process for him, allowing him to use a scribe for Class 10 board exams.
However, Mr. Narendra did his higher education in a tier 3 city where awareness among colleges regarding the needs of students with disabilities was still low. Ms. Mahanta and Mr. Narendra agree that accessing a scribe is easier in metro and tier-1 cities, where colleges understand the need and NGOs assist with arrangements.
In smaller cities and rural areas, however, limited availability often forces students to miss exams. “I had to convince my college to allow me to use a scribe. They agreed but made it clear that they wouldn’t provide any direct support”, said Mr. Narendra.
NGOs like Amrutha Bindu are on a mission to reduce the frequency of such instances by mobilizing volunteers as scribes for visually impaired and disabled students, in association with Youth for Seva.
Prashanth N. Rao, the founder of Amrutha Bindu, while talking to The Hindu said that they receive several requests for scribes. Upon understanding the requirements such as the type of exam or required scribe qualification as per exam guidelines, they initiate a call for volunteers. Over the years, they have arranged scribes for various exams— from school tests to banking and competitive exams.
Need for uniform regulations
The problems, however, don’t end with resolving the accessibility issue. Even if a student finds a scribe to assist them in writing their exams, it doesn’t ensure a smooth test-taking experience. There is a need to establish uniform regulations for the process.
For instance, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) requires that scribes, whether arranged by the student or provided by the examination centre, must be at least one grade below the exam taker. At Ms Mahanta’s school, however, the scribe had to be two years junior.
While most colleges do not specify whether candidates can use different scribes for different papers, some require the same scribe for the entire examination. Jyoti Achari, Senior Executive and Inclusion Specialist for people with visual impairments at Enable India, is a person with total blindness. She lives in Bengaluru but had enrolled in a distant university. She says during her exams, most of her time was spent trying to find a scribe. One of the university rules, she cites, was that a single scribe had to write all her exam papers. “This was extremely difficult because I had six papers that year, including language exams, and finding one person who could commit to all six was nearly impossible,” said Ms. Achari.
Having a common set of regulations across schools, higher education institutions, and workplaces will not only streamline the process of finding a scribe but also prevent potential misuse of this provision. Additionally, standardised guidelines for the invigilation process can help maintain fairness and ensure that the role of the scribe is not misused during examinations.
A scribe, who wished to remain anonymous, recalled an incident where she was contacted by a university to scribe for a person with a disability. As the exam date approached, she was asked to meet the person she would be scribing for. However, upon meeting them, she was given study materials and expected to write the exam on their behalf rather than write what they dictated. This goes against what it means to be a scribe.
Maheshwari Narasimhan, who started her journey as a scribe after her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, says that the student provides the core content of the answer, but it may not always be in complete sentences. The scribe’s role is to structure it into a sentence without altering the meaning. Ms. Narasimhan says that according to standard practise if a student gives a wrong answer, the scribe may ask for confirmation. But if the student insists, the scribe must write it down as it is. “Scribes are not allowed to enhance or modify the response in any way, even if it is incorrect,” said Ms. Narasimhan, who is now the administrator of the online portal iScribe, which helps individuals with disabilities access education by connecting them with scribes.
Ms. Narasimhan and her colleagues ensure the integrity of the process by maintaining a strict no-personal interaction policy. Scribes are prohibited from touching or pampering students and sharing personal information. As a free service, iScribe ensures that no money is exchanged between scribes and students, preventing exploitation and focusing solely on providing support.
Ms. Narasimhan recalls examples where parents approached her and requested to provide a book to study for the exam to the scribe. “Let the scribe read for the exam because he or she is not very verbal or clear. Let them write the answer. To which I say even if he/she speaks a broken sentence, let them dictate what they know”, said Maheshwari as she believes that education isn’t about clearing an exam or gaining a certificate, but it is about empowering oneself.
She observes that the provision to avail a scribe has made a significant change in inclusive education. Initially, some parents were reluctant to enrol their children with special needs in inclusive programs. However, after witnessing the positive impact the parents have become ardent supporters of the system despite facing logistical challenges such as transporting students requiring wheelchairs or special assistance. “People have understood the importance of education, developing self-awareness, and experiencing social life beyond their homes. This is a significant win for inclusive education,” she said.
Published – February 25, 2025 04:46 pm IST